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News story published on 08/10/2006
Chamber to spend $10 million in 4-year bid to see 7,500 workers hired
By Mike Pare
Staff Writer
Chattanooga Times Free Press
CHATTANOOGA, TN -- Chattanooga’s economic development officials have set new jobs and business investment goals to push the area to another level of growth after posting higher numbers the past year.
A record $10 million, fouryear campaign dubbed "Chattanooga Can Do" — built on the current job-growth effort begun in 2003 — will help the city compete nationally and internationally, officials said Wednesday.
"We’ve come a long way. The longer we stay in this doing the things we’re doing, the more success the community will have," said Tom Edd Wilson, the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce’s chief executive. During the 2007 to 2011 period for the Chattanooga Can Do campaign, the Chamber has a goal of helping create 7,500 jobs in the six-county metro area. Those jobs in turn will provide a ripple effect to more than double the total number of new slots to 15,500, according to the Chamber.
The Chattanooga Can Do business investment target is at least $500 million.
Officials for the Chamber, Hamilton County’s chief business recruiter, said the metro area boosted its job and business investment last year.
The group said it helped create more than 2,000 jobs in the July 2005 to June 2006 period.
Trevor Hamilton, the Cham- ber’s chief economic development officer, said the 2,056 jobs would be five times the number the business group helped create in the year before the existing $9 million Tell the World initiative started.
Officials said business investment in the past year was nearly $207 million, up from $22 million three years ago.
J.Ed. Marston, the Chamber’s vice president for marketing, said the new goals are a better measure than those targeted at the outset of Tell the World. "These are more directly related to the things we’re doing," he said.
Three years ago, the Chamber set a 20,000 jobs mark based on Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers. The latest figures show metro Chattanooga employment is up 10,400 jobs with about a year left in Tell the World, and officials have said chances are slim the 20,000 goal will be reached.
Mr. Hamilton said the federal government’s numbers don’t reflect accurately the Chamber’s efforts. Those figures are influenced by business closures and other factors over which the Chamber has no control, he said.
Also, the projects the Chamber works on often take three to five years to reach full employment, with government numbers lagging, Mr. Hamilton said.
Chamber officials said the new jobs and investment goals are a stretch.
They said the jobs target represents a 17 percent increase compared to the average number of positions announced the past three years.
The investment goal is a 15 percent hike in the annual average, according to the business group. Meanwhile, the Chamber’s fundraising for Chattanooga Can Do already is under way, said Bob Saacke of National Community Development Services Inc., which was hired to direct the campaign.
"It’s aggressive but attainable," he said.
Mr. Saacke said initial interviews with 53 potential investors proved positive. "People feel comfortable in the direction of the economic development program," he said.
Mr. Wilson said the $10 million fundraising mark includes the $800,000 that Tell the World receives from the city and county annually. He said the Chamber may seek more public funding.
Under Tell the World, the funding breakdown is 65 percent private and 35 percent public, Chamber officials said. The industry standard has a 60 percent private share, they said.
Chattanooga Can Do also includes an education component to strengthen the work force. "It’s hugely important," Mr. Wilson said.
Copyright © 2006, Chattanooga Publishing Company, Inc. All rights reserved, Reprinted with permission.
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